


you are so golden

by softestark



Series: sun is shining and so are you [2]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Established Relationship, Found Family, Gen, M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Movie, Romantic Gestures, Slice of Life, Speeches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25675612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softestark/pseuds/softestark
Summary: Nile discovers that she and Nicky have something in common. They both like to comment films aloud while they are watching them. She also discovers that Joe isn’t the only one who knows how to deliver a speech.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Nile Freeman & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova, Nile Freeman & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova
Series: sun is shining and so are you [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861891
Comments: 18
Kudos: 264





	you are so golden

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again!
> 
> I was watching a film today and came up with a reflexion that I think totally suited Nicky so hence, a fic :D I'm really enjoying writing from Nile's pov because I love exploring Joe and Nicky's relationship from the outside (although with a bit of Joe's pov too)
> 
> Hope you like it <3

The only sound in the room is the mumble of television and the occasional dialogue from Nile and Nicky about what’s happening on the film. The sun is setting on the horizon and it lights the room with an orange tone. It has been several months since they escaped from Merrick’s lab and they are still healing the wounds that cannot be seen. Andy is with Booker because, despite the hundred years punishment, not Joe nor Nicky would take away that option from Andy, that would be more of a punishment for her. They don’t forget that Booker was enough tempted by the promise of death that he forgot what could happen if either of them was caught, too lost in his own pain to try and risk inflicting a bigger pain on his friends. The punishment was not one to make him suffer, but to make him realise that he wasn’t alone, although he felt like it, and that putting them at risk meant experiencing loneliness. To make him remember that, had Merrick succeeded, had he taken away their immortality or had Andy been killed, the loneliness would not have been a hundred years but forever. They don’t want to make him suffer, and they know that, once he returns, they wouldn’t hold rancor against him. Nile haven’t yet realised fully, but she begins to understand the depth of the bond running in that family. And she begins to understand why Booker accepted the punishment without complaining, why Joe’s eyes soften when they talk about him —yes, they talk about him, once the fear and the memory gave up a bit— and why Andy still meets him.

Joe is sitting in the kitchen island, eyeing an art history book while picking some pistachios from a cloth bag with light fingers. Nile and Nicky are on the couch, watching a film too predictable for their taste, but it sometimes felt good to fix the eyes on the screen and forget about thinking for a little bit. They have discovered, to everyone else’s boredom, that they both love to comment films aloud while watching them. Nile was used to his family telling her to be quiet and Nicky was used to Andy’s hits when he talked, although Joe sometimes engaged with him with a fond rolling of eyes, so they have both welcomed with enthusiasm this shared activity and they can now hold full conversations while the film is playing.

The film, nevertheless, gets worse and worse, and the occasional commentary they shared had grow into a full conversation, tearing apart each dialogue from the film.

“You see? That’s bullshit” Nicky says when the main character begins another monologue about what true love was and how important was to disregard your partner’s flaws and forgive them, regardless of what they had done, because love makes you crazy and blind and that was the best part about being in love. “That’s definitely not true love, that’s fucked up.” Nile looks at him because all his previous comments have been calm, but now he seems to get angrier although his tone of voice is still calm. “I don’t like this narrative that love blinds you and you must forgive or justify everything the other person does because love makes you crazy. Love shouldn’t be like that” he continues, gesticulating amply and Nile forgets the film they are watching entirely. “True love is about having your mind clear, not the opposite. You really see the other person, what they truly are, and not what you think they are because you are infatuated and you don’t think right. You don’t forget reality just because you are in love. You are in love because you see the other person, you see what he stands up for, what he thinks, you see the good and the bad in him and you choose to love him regardless, because you know he’s right for you.” he changes to singular pronouns without realising it and Nile suppresses a smile. “I don’t love Joe because I’m imagining him a certain way, although,” he smiles a bit, “that would be difficult after nine hundred years knowing him as I do, nor I love him because I don’t pay attention to certain things because I’m blinded by love. I know what he’s done, and although we don’t always think the same about things, I love him because I know exactly who he is. And I choose everyday to love him wholly, with all my senses and my mind clear”.

Nile blinks and Nicky turns to her with a smile, apparently not minding the speech he just gave. Nile clears her throat and looks from the corner of her eye at Joe, who was taking a bottle from the fridge while Nicky was talking.

“Why don’t you tell him that?” Nile says, looking at Nicky again, marvelled at the beautiful speech he has delivered without thinking it twice.

“Because I already know” answers a soft voice full with emotion near them. Nicky smiles lightly towards Joe, who is beside him and offers them the bag with pistachios. They take some of them while Joe touches softly Nicky’s cheek. Nicky takes his hand and gives him a little kiss in the knuckles. Nile wanders how it is possible she doesn’t feel like she shouldn’t be witnessing that, that open show of love. The answer is simple and comes quickly. The affection and the obvious love between the two men is just another part of their family, like how they organise themselves to sleep when they have to share a room or they way they synchronise in a battle. It’s just how things are.

Joe sends Nicky a kiss and he winks in return, watching Joe going back to sit at the kitchen, and he turns his attention to the —awful— film once more. Joe continues his reading although his eyes goes often to Nicky, appreciating how the warm light of the sunset compliments his skin. Joe knows people may think that Nicky isn’t as effusive with words in public as he his, that one is partially true, or that Nicky doesn’t make him feel loved, which is an absolute and horrible lie, but Joe doesn’t care what other people may think. He knows that he’s loved, so, so loved by Nicky. He doesn’t usually go for grand speeches, that is more of his thing, but that doesn’t mean he don’t tell him how much he means to him. He tells him when they are alone, enjoying each other’s company, and Nicky lifts his eyes from the book he’s reading to tell him he loves him. He tells him when he kiss every inch of his body, whispering softly in arabic and telling him he means everything to him. Nicky tells him constantly, repeatedly, a thousand of times, in so many ways. So Joe doesn’t care if anyone thinks otherwise.

Because Joe knows.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really happy about it, I'm a sucker for the love this two have for each other ;___________; let me know if you enjoyed it, thank you so much for reading <3!!


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